Uploaded April 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Paul Robeson (April 9, 1898 - January 23, 1976) was a great artist, revolutionary and lifelong crusader for darker humanity’s striving for self-determination and positive peace. The son of an escaped slave who rose to become one of the world’s most famous singers and actors, he dedicated his artistic career to the struggle of the oppressed. As a pioneer of the study of African American and world folk culture, Robeson saw art as an articulation of human striving and potential that could unite the masses around the world on the basis of universal values of peace, justice and human dignity and provide a vision for the future. Along with Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois, Robeson was a founding member of the World Peace Council and the Council of African Affairs -- both these organizations worked in solidarity with the anti-colonial struggles in Africa and Asia. With the start of the Cold War and McCarthyism, he was persecuted by the U.S. state for his refusal to cease linking the struggle for civil rights in the US to the anti-colonial struggles and work towards peaceful co-existence with the USSR. His moral courage and indomitable spirit of sacrifice made him beloved by the peoples of the world.
"Paul Robeson: A Man For the Future" is an original documentary produced by The Saturday Free School for Philosophy and Black Liberation. We celebrate Robeson as a complete human being and friend of world humanity. His contribution to the cause of building world peace and universal brotherhood highlights the centrality of the Black struggle in the fight against white-supremacy, imperialism and war. This documentary premiered on May 25th, 2023 as a part of the 125th Birth Anniversary celebration in Chicago at the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center. More information on Robeson and the celebration can be found at www.robeson125th.org.
Today, the question of peace is central to our times. The ongoing genocide in Gaza and possibility of ever expanding war threaten the forces of democracy and self-determination. The US ruling elite are weakened by the rise of the discontented masses at home, and the ascending Afro-Asiatic world. These times call for a serious effort to unite against war and white supremacy based on Robeson’s vision for a human future. His belief in the moral capacity of working people and his love for humanity must show us a way forward. We must sing Robeson’s Song of the Rivers, which speaks of the merging of the Nile, Ganga, Yangtse, Volga, and the Mississippi into “the mightiest river of all -- the people’s will for peace and freedom now surging in floodtide throughout the world”
Paul Robeson (April 9, 1898 - January 23, 1976) was a great artist, revolutionary and lifelong crusader for darker humanity’s striving for self-determination and positive peace. The son of an escaped slave who rose to become one of the world’s most famous singers and actors, he dedicated his artistic career to the struggle of the oppressed. As a pioneer of the study of African American and world folk culture, Robeson saw art as an articulation of human striving and potential that could unite the masses around the world on the basis of universal values of peace, justice and human dignity and provide a vision for the future. Along with Dr. W.E.B. Du Bois, Robeson was a founding member of the World Peace Council and the Council of African Affairs -- both these organizations worked in solidarity with the anti-colonial struggles in Africa and Asia. With the start of the Cold War and McCarthyism, he was persecuted by the U.S. state for his refusal to cease linking the struggle for civil rights in the US to the anti-colonial struggles and work towards peaceful co-existence with the USSR. His moral courage and indomitable spirit of sacrifice made him beloved by the peoples of the world.
"Paul Robeson: A Man For the Future" is an original documentary produced by The Saturday Free School for Philosophy and Black Liberation. We celebrate Robeson as a complete human being and friend of world humanity. His contribution to the cause of building world peace and universal brotherhood highlights the centrality of the Black struggle in the fight against white-supremacy, imperialism and war. This documentary premiered on May 25th, 2023 as a part of the 125th Birth Anniversary celebration in Chicago at the DuSable Black History Museum and Education Center. More information on Robeson and the celebration can be found at www.robeson125th.org.
Today, the question of peace is central to our times. The ongoing genocide in Gaza and possibility of ever expanding war threaten the forces of democracy and self-determination. The US ruling elite are weakened by the rise of the discontented masses at home, and the ascending Afro-Asiatic world. These times call for a serious effort to unite against war and white supremacy based on Robeson’s vision for a human future. His belief in the moral capacity of working people and his love for humanity must show us a way forward. We must sing Robeson’s Song of the Rivers, which speaks of the merging of the Nile, Ganga, Yangtse, Volga, and the Mississippi into “the mightiest river of all -- the people’s will for peace and freedom now surging in floodtide throughout the world”
